This invention relates to a method for cleaning a machine for liquid or semi-liquid food products (designed to produce in particular products of the soft ice cream or shake type).
As is known, the components which are in contact with the basic mixture or with the finished product require regular cleaning, in order to reduce the risk of formation of bacterial charge and to increase the safety of the end product.
In the sector of liquid or semi-liquid food products, there are prior art machines for making liquid or semi-liquid food products (in particular soft ice cream) of the so-called “self-pasteurizing” type.
These machines are able to operate, without the need to remove the components for cleaning, for approximately 43 days.
For this reason, approximately every 43 days, the operator performs—after dismantling the components—a complete cleaning on these types of machines which is particularly long, that is, it requires a particularly lengthy time.
However, these machines are quite expensive (more expensive than so-called “standard” machines) as they are extremely complex.
In the relevant sector there are also “standard” machines for making liquid or semi-liquid food products (in particular soft ice cream), that is not of the “self-pasteurizing” type, which require frequent dismantling (daily) of the components, so as to ensure the necessary food safety of the product being made.
It should be noted that this type of machine requires a frequent dismantling of the components for the cleaning, which necessarily requires stopping the machine with a consequent loss of productivity.
For this reason, the operators feel the need to reduce the machine downtimes, that is, to reduce the unavailability of the machine.
The operators have therefore felt the need for a cleaning method which allows the machine downtimes to be reduced and which is simple and inexpensive.